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Matt Bush aims for sobriety while filling crucial role for Texas Rangers

Matt Bush, released from a halfway house just eight months ago and now an integral part of the most powerful team in the American League, refuses to let the fans on the road, full of liquid courage, get to him.

ST. LOUIS - Texas Rangers reliever Matt Bush hears the vulgarities directed his way, bringing up the ugly incidents of his troubled past.

Bush, released from a halfway house just eight months ago, and now an integral part of the most powerful team in the American League, refuses to let the fans on the road, full of liquid courage, get to him. He vows to remain strong, and, yes, sober.

“I hear nasty things, people talking about prison and my drinking, just stupid stuff,’’ Bush tells USA TODAY Sports. “Obviously, people are trying to get under your skin any way they can. Some of the people want to go to the game just to give people a hard time. They’ll drink beer and yell things at me.

“I understand it. But I try not to be too judgmental. I focus on what I have to do and try not to pay attention to the hecklers. When it gets bad, I think of Jackie Robinson. Gosh, look at what he had to endure and go through, and he didn’t do anything wrong. It was just because of the color of his skin.’’

Bush looks away, pauses, and softly says, “Obviously, it’s completely different with me, just with all of the things I’ve done in my past.’’

Bush was sentenced on Dec. 18, 2012 to 52 months in prison after being charged on three felony counts for crashing into a 72-year-old motorcyclist while drunk, driving over his head, and then leaving the scene of the accident. Anthony Tufano, who was left unconscious with his brain hemorrhaging, collapsed lung and eight broken vertebrae, survived.

Bush, who actually crashed his car twice within hours before the hit-and-run in Port Charlotte, Fla., was sent to prison.

Today, Bush, after sitting out of organized baseball the past four years, playing only for his prison softball team, has blossomed into the most remarkable comeback story in all of baseball.

Bush, sober for four years and two months, with just 17 minor-league innings before making his major-league debut on May 13, he has been a savior for the Rangers’ bullpen. He showcased his talent again Sunday, throwing two fastballs clocked at 100 mph, pitching a 1-2-3 eighth inning in the Rangers’ 5-4 comeback victory over the St. Louis Cardinals. He has struck out 18 batters and walked just three in 16 2/3 innings since his arrival.

Oh, and besides being dominant, he also immediately earned the respect of his teammates and the Rangers’ fan base by drilling Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Jose Bautista in his second game, in retaliation of Bautista’s infamous bat-flip in the 2015 playoffs.

“He has been unbelievable,’’ said Rangers pitching coach Doug Brocail, who was teammates with Bush in the minor leagues in 2006 during a rehab assignment. “A lot of his success is self-taught. He had quite a bit of time to sit back and do the things he needed to do to get back in this game.

“I don’t think he has any pressure at all on the mound. His pressures are off the field.’’

Bush, who had his first drink in junior high, and believes he became an alcoholic around 20 or 21, is only alone these days when he’s on the pitchers’ mound. He is surrounded by 24 teammates in the clubhouse. He shares a hotel room on the road with Roy Silver, the Rangers’ special assistant of player development. His father, Danny Bush, stays with him when the Rangers are home.

He cannot have another drink again. He cannot drive for 10 years. He can’t even step into a bar and have a soft drink. One violation, and the Rangers will terminate him.

“I’ve always had the talent, and have always loved this game,’’ Bush says, “but I had demons that have held me back. They kept me down. Now, I’ve got another chance. And I’m making the most of it.

“I’m not the same person I was. I don’t ever want to be that person again. I’m sober. I like myself now. Really, it’s the happiest I’ve ever been in my life.’’

His rise from top pick in the 2004 draft - signed by his hometown Padres to a $3.15 million bonus - to a descent that included three organizations, three DUIs and a passel of arrest and assault charges was jarring. “I remember facing him in high school,’’ says Rangers ace Cole Hamels, two years older, who played on the same traveling baseball team in San Diego, the Encinitas Reds. “He had a phenomenal arm. But he was an unbelievable shortstop. I kind of lost track of him.’’

And Bush lost track of baseball, watching only the World Series while in prison. He was working at a Golden Corral as part of a work release program when Silver - integral in Josh Hamilton’s return from drug addiction to organized baseball - “went to see him as a friend. Two months later, his arm was still working, there was some maturity in his answers and his voice, and then I started mentioning things to my boss.’’

Rangers GM Jon Daniels initially was opposed, but Bush sat down with Daniels in November, told him that he was a changed man, has not had a drink since his accident in March, 2012, and owned up to all of his transgressions.

“Obviously, Josh’s drug of choice wasn’t alcohol,’’ Bush said, “but alcohol is still a mind-altering substance that takes you away from reality. The demons are the same. I really started noticing the struggle of wanting to drink at all times of the day and night, and not being able to stop or control how much I was drinking. I started off drinking beers, and enjoying a mellow buzz. Then, it graduated to liquor, usually vodka, to get me there quicker. I could never just really enjoy a drink. I was always pounding, pounding, pounding away.

“I knew I really needed help. It takes a big man to be able to admit that you have a problem, and need to get well. It’s no fun living in that sorrow, that spiralling downfall. In the past, I wanted to do everything on my own, and it always failed that way. This time, I leaned on God for the help and support, allowing the (Rangers) organization to help me, give me guidance and structure.

“I have so much love and support now.’’

The Rangers, who have the best record in the American League, going 35-15 since April 26, have insulated Bush the best they can. He still has his 12-step meetings. He has sponsors in San Diego and Texas. Silver is constantly by his side. And every three days, Bush has a mandatory meeting in manager Jeff Banister’s office that lasts 15 to 20 minutes.

“We talk about anything and everything,’’ said Banister, the reigning AL manager of the year. “I think it’s crucial for me to know this guy on a different level, not just as a baseball player. I want my office to be a private, safe environment for him.

“Look, he’s been in a place where most people can’t relate to. I’m sure he never wants to experience that again. There’s a little more at stake this time.’’

Bush’s teammates do their best to watch and protect him when they can, helping him tune out those cruelties, perhaps delivered by those with their own problems.

Said Rangers reliever Sam Dyson: “There’s a fine line between someone making a smart-ass comment from someone being inappropriate. Sometimes, they cross the line with him. We try our best to defuse it.

“I don’t think somebody’s words are going to be able to destroy a young man like him.’’

Bush, who attended chapel service Sunday with several of his teammates, vows to stay strong. He was forewarned by Hamilton there will be those who will try to break him. Yet, he’s come too far, Bush says, to let anyone, or anything, stop him now.

“This is what I’ve always wanted my whole life,’’ Bush said. “I always wanted to play in the major leagues, have my parents, my family, and my friends proud of me.

“I know I hurt a lot of people over the years. Now, I want to make them proud, and being here on a first-place team like this, it’s like a dream.

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